What are the worst and best jobs?

March 01, 2010

There are some jobs people would die for. Many would love to work as forensic scientists, web developers, software engineers and archaeologists. Then there are other jobs no one would go near. What makes it even more interesting is that there are jobs that you wouldn’t have dreamed of having years ago. But then they come into fashion and everyone is interested.

One of the best examples is garbage collection. There was a time it was derided. Now that recycling is popular, people’s views about garbage are starting to change. Not that garbage collection is a popular job, at least not now. But changes in attitudes could see things shift. So what jobs do people avoid? And what perks do unpopular industries offer to draw talent?

It’s a thought that crossed my mind when I came across the British and American Tobacco (BAT) website. Why work at BAT? The tobacco merchants say: “We think the person who knows your aspirations and ambitions best is you. We can and we will help, but when it comes to making career decisions around here, you’re in charge. We will challenge you, give you responsibility and sometimes expect you to succeed in some very tough situations. What we won’t do is bore you or waste your talents.” According to one of its surveys, 87 per cent of BAT employees said they were proud to be associated with BAT. But it sells tobacco, a cancer causing drug, for goodness sake. Raytheon, one of the big military contractors for places like Afghanistan, which also provides the US government with radar and missile systems, offers great work life balance opportunities, along with home and auto insurance and subsidised education and training. Interested?

So what are some of the worst jobs you can do? Careercast.com says the worst jobs for 2010 include tax driver, lumberjack, iron worker, dairy farmer, welder, meter reader and yes, garbage collector is included in there. According to the criteria, the job is assessed along the lines of each having “at least one significant detriment, like extreme physical exertion, high risk of injury, low salary or lack of advancement opportunity.” The best jobs list includes actuaries, software engineers, biologists, computer system analysts, historians, mathematicians, accountants and dental hygienists. According to these commentators, these jobs are great because demand and salaries are high. They mightn’t be the highest paying jobs but they come in an environment that combines good health, low stress, a pleasant workplace, solid income and strong growth potential.

In other words, the best and worst jobs for 2010 are selected on five criteria: environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress. You can read more about the methodology here.

It’s a case of each to their own really. Some of the so-called best jobs would not appeal to everyone and similarly, not everyone would agree on the list of bad jobs. Plenty of people out there would regard accounting and actuarial work as boring, some people don’t have a head for numbers so they won’t become mathematicians and others have no interest in history.

The thing that bugs me about these sorts of lists is that even with the so-called worst jobs, someone has to do it. There will always be a demand for dairy farmers, welders and taxi drivers. These jobs are still pretty important.

The same goes for the so-called politically incorrect jobs. If you are working for a firearms dealer, doing military research or marketing cigarettes, you might fall into that category. There are some people who would never join the military, police force or work for an oil company. But again, someone has to do these jobs and in any case, at least it’s a job.

And once more, people attitudes to them changes with the times. It wasn’t that long ago that financial advisers and bankers were regarded with disdain. That seems to have changed.

So what are the best career paths now? According to US News and World Report, the growth areas of technology offer growth jobs in such areas as biomedical engineers and computer analysts. Similarly, an ageing boomer population means more health care jobs. Everything from nursing to x-ray technicians to social workers. It also predicts high demand for creative jobs like technical writers and video editors and a boom market for security system installers. And of course, we’ll always need plumbers and electricians.

I would add that government has become a lot bigger since the global financial crisis. Keep an eye out for public sector jobs.

So what are the best and worst jobs to have? Tell us why. What job would you avoid? What job would you really want to have? What are the growth areas for jobs?

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Recent comments

Monday musings

March 01, 2010

10:19 AM

I think it much more common these days for people to make employer-choices based on their moral/ethical priorities. I also think this need grows greater as we age, although maybe Gen-Ys would disagree.

Sean

March 01, 2010

10:28 AM

Probably the career choice that adversely effects most people is teaching. It's easy is access, large numbers of teachers are required and because of the high dropout of staff additional numbers always sought. And it's a remarkably destructive work environment in which to engage. Low morale, little respect between staff and client, low salary, low status little if any professional pathways.

Jeremy

March 01, 2010

10:40 AM

I see actuaries are high on the list of best jobs. Actuaries, of course, are people who found accounting too exciting.

Coughalot

March 01, 2010

11:08 AM

I worked in the rubber industry for over 35 years . During that time many of the workers fell ill and had time away from work . The chief chemist , who was also a heavy smoker died of cancer . His main method of testing the ingredients of a rubber sample was to light a match to it and smell the fumes . Little is know of the long term effect of breathing the fumes coming off the moulding machines , and little is done to test workers for their health while working in such conditions .

autonomous

March 01, 2010

11:22 AM

I was a gas/electricity meter reader during uni. Hours were good. Worked 8am - 1pm roughly then hit uni in the afternoon. Weekdays only and got plenty of exercise. Downsides were working alone and the autonomy of the job. Plus vicious dogs and customers.

Worst job looking back was a checkout clerk. But hey, someone has to do it and your first job may as well be your worst (in hindsight)/

Max

March 01, 2010

11:48 AM

I'm a part time security guard. It's not the best job but it pays the bills while I try to put myself through a management degree at Uni. Better days to come, hopefully!

RED

March 01, 2010

11:58 AM

The comment about choosing jobs based on ethics/morals is interesting. I used to work for an environmental science consultancy firm. We had a few recent grads who refused to work for the Department of Defence for 'moral
reasons'. I couldn't accept that, for two reasons:
1. If ethical people won't do environmental assessment for the DoD, only shonky dealers will, leaving us all worse off in the end. Commonwealth owned assets deserve the highest level of professional skill in their management.
2. It's not like they were being asked to shoot anyone! And to think that any nation can exist without a defence force is just, to be kind, 'woolly thinking'. Just as Leon says, we must have garbage collectors and we must have a defence force, so it's up to all of us to hold them to the highest standards possible.

None of those grads lasted in the consulting industry - they're mostly now off working either in the public sector or the protest sector.

Having said that, environmental assessment and urban planning are wonderful fields to work in. If you're interested in improving the environment and reducing human impact on the planet, it all starts with planning and environmental management.

andilee

March 01, 2010

12:05 PM

On behalf of the ASTC (Vic), thank you for including technical writers in your list of best career paths!

SteveG

March 01, 2010

12:18 PM

Commission only sales was terrible.
I did it for a few days, and it was tough..

It's a very violent and unrewarding job.
I effectively play the role of surrogate parent to youth with a variety of issues due to bad parenting etc.
DHS puts up to 5 very troubled kids into one small environment (house)and you are asked to perform miracles.
So many troubled youth in a small space creates huge pressures which often end up in verbal and physical abuse towards each other and staff. This combined with un addressed mental illnesses and personality disorders results in further pressure so that major crimes against each other and staff are common.
rape, assault with deadly weapons, stabbings and older residents introducing very young residents to heavy drugs and prostitution.
On top of this no professional health workers are available for support. DHS social workers rareily visit, no mental health professionals visit. The rp3 kids never attend school and the staff brave enough to attempt to get them up in the morning early enough are threatened with assault or assaulted.
Also the youth now regularly abuse the abuse of children legislation and have staff laid of on false abuse statements. These are usually the staff who try and therefore are targeted for removal by the youth so that they can continue to avoid improving their lives. Often after such a humiliating experience they rarely come back. So the residentials are then left with poorer staff who buy off children to reduce the chance of assault or false statements.
No standards for work place safety exist in any residential and the turnover is six months. It is so bad than many residentials cannot fill rosters and rely on exhausted relief agency staff who are usually sent to residentials that are collapsing or have collapsed due to violence.

AntSlick

March 01, 2010

02:48 PM

Car sales is a fairly average job. Customers hate you as do your employers?!
Very unregulated industry as an employee, the award has no working hours limit, no weekend penalty rates, no overtime, no meal breaks and no guarantee of commission. Most dealers now have negotiated a flat fee of $100 per delivery and make a fortune off the factory kick backs. you pay your own super on the $100 delivery fee's and annual leave is worked out on you base retainer of $32,000pa
50-60 hours a week for an average consultant equates to $60k gross if they are selling 12-15 units a month on average.
company would make 10 times this amount just in incentives!!
Also with the pressure from the factory ro keep customers satisfied (as they should) it is also a very stressful and time consuming job. Great if you like meeting new people, terrible if you want to have any sort of structure or assurance of a continuous wage

mfas

March 01, 2010

03:23 PM

I'm an Analyst Programmer specialising in Automation of Business and Accounting practices. It's interesting and pays me well, only because I am experienced and very good at it. There are a lot of wannabees out there who don't have the same level of experience therefore I usually get fairly good roles. However, I have always wished I had enlisted into the Air Force - too late now though. In the last couple of years I have thought of a career change to being a Train Driver, firstly for Connex and now for Metro. I am at the age where I don't need career progression, just a steady job with regular hours for the next 10 years when I can retire. Unfortunately, it's the retirement bit that I reckon would be the worst job in the world; I need to work - for my sanity!!!

Having said that, I reckon working for the DHS would suck. Worst department in Government, the minister and officials in it need a good dose of salts - taken from the other end. The people who work in the field have to be commended but boy, you gotta wonder what they are thinking working in that industry, I've heard some horrific stories about what goes on from some of those people - mad my Bolle go flat!!!

Stephen

March 01, 2010

03:24 PM

I'm a garbo. And the job has a few negatives but a lot more positives.
The negative of course is the smell that pervades your working shift.
Maneuvering a large truck through narrow Sydney alley ways is another tiresome task.

The positives include the money. Working 5 nights a week for a total of 40 hours earns me about $85k. The job is stress free. You stay fit and you stay cleaner than you'll ever be; A long hot shower at the end of every shift is a necessity.
Plus, you'd be amazed at what people throw away. You can add another couple of grand a year in garage sale income!

Professor Rosseforp

March 01, 2010

07:14 PM

I have always shied away from jobs like bomb disposal, or test pilot, or mercenary, or plugging oil wells that are on fire.
In terms of jobs that are soul-destroying, because they serve no useful purpose, I would nominate human resource managers and quality assurance managers.

WallyForWorkingHere

March 01, 2010

07:42 PM

Worst job is my job. I'm meant to sell the company's services ...

Newsletter went out today with column from the Managing Director talking about the famous settler Captain James Cook, who used to burn his ships when he found a place to settle, thus ensuring he couldn't change his mind.

... so now all our customers have this, and I'm expected to walk in and present us as a professional organisation that can solve their problems.

Juliet

March 02, 2010

10:54 AM

would i be right in guessing the list of 'worst' jobs gets a lot smaller when the unemployment rate goes up?

some 'dream' jobs only seem that way. I am still eternally grateful to have got one of those straight out of high school. i landed 'arts assistant' at an advertising agency. i lasted a year, decided to go to uni & avoid advertising evermore. now in my 40s that was still my worst ever job, despite how glamorous it looks on 'gruen transfer' or 'madmen' telly shows.

Tom Brown

March 06, 2010

07:17 PM

At the risk of widespread guffaws, I don't think you can call teaching a 'job'. Sure it pays the bills, but as a 'job' it is probably, as you say, pretty lousy. Regarded as a 'vocation', however, teaching is quite special. Great teachers are very special people doing a very special task. The breadth of skill required is extraordinary , and ever expanding; the material rewards are not insignificant and the 'intangible' rewards are extraordinary. Few professions so fully engage the capacities of its practitioners and avail the opportunity to promote human growth from such a morally advantaged viewpoint. Judged from the vantage point of a 'job', teaching may not stack up all that well; judged from the perspective of a 'vocation', there are few to compare. Indeed, if you are practicing teaching as a 'job', you are probably not doing it.

bestjob

March 11, 2010

11:54 PM

teaching at an international school.My kids are exceptionally smart, talented, diligent. Every day is different; work hours are good. Holidays are long; pay is great - enough to go on 4 overseas holidays a year + save a lot; don't have to deal with moody, back-stabbing, inefficient etc adults much, unless you want to; can travel the world = contracts are usually for 2 yrs; respect (yes, Asians still respect teachers, hip-hop artists are respected ELSEWHERE thank god). The best part: my professions allows me to live in one of the most amazing countries in the world.

syd1

August 21, 2010

11:22 AM

Teaching is the worst job. You spend the best part of your life in this profession, only to be abused daily, not recognized by any profession because experience is of little value.

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Leon Gettler is a contributor to The Age, specialising on management issues. His interests include business ethics, corporate governance and the intricacies of the US Sarbanes-Oxley ruling. He is the author of two books, including Organisations Behaving Badly: A Greek tragedy of corporate pathology, which focuses on the forces that lead smart executives to make dumb decisions.